Athletics 4, Rangers 0: A three-hit shutout for Sonny Gray, who ups his records to 4-1 and lowers his ERA to 1.76. Seventy-three of his 108 pitches went for strikes and the hits were only singles. His counterpart, Yu Darvish, turned in his shortest major league start ever. Three and a third innings, while allowing four runs and six hits while throwing 83 pitches and walking two.

Padres 6, Giants 4: Rene Rivera drove in five. When I saw the box score and it just said “R. Rivera,” I thought of Ruben, who played for the Padres for several years. And yes that was over a decade ago, but some things just stick in your mind. Like bad baseball players we all somehow thought would become good baseball players simply because they had a couple of decent tools. The 90s were terrible, man.

Rockies 8, Diamondbacks 5: Troy Tulowitzki homered, had two doubles and drove in three. Justin Morneau hit a two-run homer and has a 12-game hitting streak. The Rockies are averaging 5.48 runs per game, leading all of baseball.

Angels 6, Indians 3: It was 3-3 in the eighth when Mike Trout hit an RBI single and Raul Ibanez hit a two-run triple. I’m a year younger than him and I’m pretty sure if you asked me to run 270 feet I’d die. Joe Smith got the save. His first since taking over closer duties.

Brewers 5, Cardinals 3: Khris Davis hit a run-scoring triple in the 12th. This after he struck out four times. So, yes, a Golden Sombrero, but it had a nice pretty band on it.

White Sox 7, Rays 3: Alejandro De Aza hit a two-run homer, Adam Eaton had a two-run double and Marcus Semien doubled in the winning run. The Chisox took three of four from the Rays.

Cubs vs. Reds: POSTPONED: We can go for a walk where it’s quiet and dry. And talk about precious things. But the rain that flattens my hair. These are the things that kill me.

The Cubs wrapped up a four-game series against the Reds at Wrigley Field on Thursday afternoon, suffering a 13-10 loss to split the set. They’ll match up again against the Reds next week for a three-game series in Cincinnati. That’s good news for Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant, because that means he’ll get to see Reds first baseman Joey Votto some more.

As CSN Chicago’s Patrick Mooney reports, Bryant has grown quite fond of Votto. Bryant has already won a World Series ring, a Rookie of the Year Award, and an MVP Award, but he still looks up to Votto. According to Bryant, Votto is “the best player ever.” He added, ““He’s my favorite player. I love watching him. I love talking to him, just picking his brain. He gets a lot of (heat) about his walks and working at-bats and some people want him to swing at more pitches. But, gosh, I mean, he does an unbelievable job. You know that he’s going to give you a great at-bat every time he goes up there. It’s definitely a guy that I look up to and I can learn from.”

Bryant said that Votto is “a future Hall of Famer, that’s for sure.”

Bryant also explained how his approach changed by watching Votto. He said that in his rookie season, he was “swinging at everything.” Votto, however, is “aggressive, but he’s not going to swing at a pitch until he wants it.”

Indeed, in Bryant’s rookie season, he struck out in nearly 31 percent of his 650 plate appearances. This season, he has struck out in only 19 percent of his PA. His walk rate has also increased by more than 2.5 percent since his rookie campaign. Compared to last year, Bryant is down in HR and RBI, but his average is the same, his on-base percentage is markedly better, and his slugging percentage is only down by a minute amount.

Diamondbacks second baseman Daniel Descalso hit his team’s third inside-the-park home run of the season during Thursday’s 4-0 win over the Astros. In the top of the fourth inning, with the score 1-0 and the bases empty, Descalso ripped a 1-0, 83 MPH change-up to right-center field. The ball caromed off the wall, heading towards left field, which sent center Jake Marisnick on the chase. Marisnick tried to pick up the ball with his glove, but dropped it, which sealed Descalso’s destiny for an inside-the-parker.

It had only been five days since the Diamondbacks’ last inside-the-park home run. David Peralta hit one against the Cubs on August 12. Ketel Marte legged out his club’s first ITPHR on July 26 against the Braves.

As ESPN Stats & Info notes, the Diamondbacks have three as a team, which is amazing because the other 29 teams have hit seven combined.